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Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park infographics: what's built/what's coming/what's missing, who's responsible, + project FAQ/timeline (pinned post)

Before the Atlantic Yards CDC meeting tomorrow, some questions

There's no agenda yet for the meeting tomorrow of the Atlantic Yards Community Development Corporation (AY CDC), to be held at 3 pm at Long Island University. (Attendees should RSVP today.) It will also be web cast.

Since the previous meeting was held 3/29/17. there's been one Quality of Life meeting, which I covered here. The official notes are here. As noted, there have been no updates regarding plans for the project at Site 5 and the start of the B12 and B14 towers, nor plans for B1 and B4.

421-a questions

"The new 421-a legislation “Affordable New York Housing Program” was discussed," the notes say. "The legislation is still being reviewed, and its impact on the Project has not been determined."

Well, yes, but a plain reading of the legislation--which does not offer tax breaks for large condo buildings--seems ominous for the project. It's worth probing further.

Barclays Center calendar and impacts

Regarding the Barclays Center, the notes say:
The Nets’ and Islanders’ seasons are over, and the May calendar of events for the Barclays Center has been released. A resident asked that non-ticketed events be added to the calendar of events so the community is aware of events at the arena. Barclays Center representatives will look into the request.
That hasn't happened, despite the fact we've since learned that a major event for traditional Orthodox Jews is planned for this Sunday--and the last somewhat similar event required many buses.

Similarly, we've also learned that such events, like commencements, may involve much illegal parking, which last week did not seem to be enforced.

Some other questions

When will the project be finished? Does 2035 "stabilization" indicate the last building will be up by 2033? What about the 2025 affordable housing deadline?

How fast are the apartment buildings filling up? What's the percentage of occupancy? What kind of incentives are required?

What are the lessons of the affordable housing lotteries? As I wrote in April, there's a huge gap between the relatively small numbers of people seeking middle-income units and the large numbers seeking low-income ones.

And what's happened to documents indicating that the lowest-income residents would be mostly on the lowest floors of the two "100% affordable" apartments? As I wrote 4/21/17, some six weeks ago, updated documents were supposed to be filed. They haven't yet.

The questions I posted linger:

  • Was this just an error? (If so, it wasn't exactly random.)
  • Why were they trying to concentrate the units on the lower floors in the first place?
  • Would they have changed it if I (or others?) hadn't raised the issue?
  • When will they file the amended lease?


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